Multiple Body Disorder
by crackedradio
Summary: Malkav was on a search. May the world forgive him for not remembering what, exactly, he was looking for after a few thousand years. Old!WoD canon, takes place during Gehenna, no pairings.


**Title:** Multiple-Body-Disorder  
**Genre:** General and to a certain extent also horror  
**Characters/Pairing: **Malkav, mentions of Saulot, mentions of Douglas Netchurch; no pairings  
**Warnings:** Spoilers for the whole Gehenna scenario, weird mix of the "Nightshade" and "Crucible of God" scenario, generally ignores all the "Saulot is actually the most evil being in existence" stuff  
**Words**: 1122  
**Disclaimer: **I don't claim ownership of any of the White Wolf trademarks and I don't make any money with this, so don't sue me.

**A/N:**The "Reign of Malkav" in the "Gehenna -Time of Judgment" book in combination with the Malkavian and Salubri Clanbooks inspired me to write this. The authors did say something along the lines of "Don't focus on the antediluvians; you can only fuck their characterization up" but I wanted to write fic about them anyway. This was some kind of an experiment for me, so I should warn you that the fic is a bit weird.

On a completely unrelated note: Happy New Year everyone!

**Edit: **I finally corrected the mistakes that MorganaLakes pointed out. Thank you, MorganaLakes!

**Multiple-Body-Disorder**

Gehenna was a thing that had been brewing since the days of the second city. A raging God, a Dark Father and thirteen power-hungry children – _something_ was bound to happen someday. There had been hundreds of different interpretations on _how _it would happen, but most people agreed that it would happen. Even the kine had their equivalents of Gehenna.

In the end, the ones who predicted Gehenna as the rise of the thirteen (_by now very, very hungry_) antediluvians had been right. Not that they had much time to enjoy the fact that they had been right all along - even if they had survived until now they were too worn out to survive Malkav.

For Malkav it felt good, if slightly awkward, to finally resurface after so many years spent and spread inside his brood's gone-cold bloodstream. And he came not even a day late to Gehenna. What interesting developments had taken place during his... _absence_, starting with his clan's growth. Apparently, his children had adopted many into the family since the days of the second city, not that he really minded.

Even though it made it harder and more time consuming to catch them.

He was tapping into their minds. This one, manic depressive, that was what they called today. That one, a sociopath. The other one, paranoid schizophrenic. Anger management issues, borderline-, bipolar-, narcissistic- or co-dependent-personality disorder (_meaning every ghoul ever)_. Such a nice terminology the figurative _they _had thought up.

And yet, _they _still had not quite understood whatever they labeled a disease, probably never had the desire to in the first place.

But _they _shouldn't worry; he was going to _make _them understand in time.

He reached out to them, to all of them, sane or not, kindred or kine. Those he barely touched, he drove mad. Those he touched, he subsumed. Those he touched too deep, he destroyed.

He grew greater with every person he absorbed, but neither was it ever enough to satisfy him, nor did it help him. To everyone but the most powerful and enlightened Malkavians he was just a mindless force of nature that left behind destruction and chaos wherever it went. But there was a purpose behind his actions, self-serving as it was.

Malkav was on a search. May the world forgive him for not remembering what exactly he was looking for after a few thousand years.

It was this uncertainty that drove him in despair's welcoming arms - to know that you are searching without knowing _what. _And if finding out what he was searching for meant for him to take the world apart piece by piece, then he was not going to hesitate. He had risen far above any petty boundaries or ethics of this realm.

It was almost comforting for Malkav to know there were some things he could be sure of, like the fact that there were still things out there that resisted him, even though anyone with half a brain should have been well aware how little they could accomplish. In the end, their desperate efforts only served to make Malkav laugh. They tried, God knows they tried, but none of these insects made a difference in the grand scheme of Gehenna.

But then there was_ Douglas_.

_Douglas_ _Netchurch _was its name. Douglas. A doctor afflicted with an unhealthy obsession for science; there was no title for that particular kind of madness as of now. Well, except maybe "Mad scientist ", but Malkav wouldn't let that one count.

In any case, _Douglas_ was smart and capable enough to be a thorn in Malkav's side; the only thorn there was for the better part of Gehenna.

But then there was something, _someone _else beginning to itch him and distract him from _Douglas_. Someone who was far also above the insects, far closer to the Dark One with whom it all began.

Someone he was familiar with by blood and who had been wiped from the face of the earth so many centuries ago - and who just recently had finally subsumed the man who had diablerized him. "_Hello, Tremere," _mused Malkav, "_how is the karma tod_ay_?_ _And __**you**__ - what was the meaning behind this gamble?"_

_His _resurrection he had not foreseen and let it be said that it was nigh impossible to surprise Malkav anymore, or to distract him from whatever he had set his sight on. He might have been cursed (_or enlightened_) with madness, but he did not suffer from Attention-Deficit-Syndrome. Well, at least most of the time.

But Malkav had too many bodies, too many ears and too many eyes, in too many places to not notice how those who were still alive and still free became more and more excited, nervous, panicked then they had been before, like prey that had sensed the presence of another predator.

Furthermore, and more importantly, he had his intuition and his prophecies.

In his visions he saw a small child, blond with eyes as blue as the sky. A child that was capable of stopping Gehenna; the kindest and most enlightened of the thirteen. The one most likely to ever gain God's absolution.

_Zao-Lat_, he began to call him, _Saulot_. He never would forget that name. He never could. How could he forget gentle, gentle (_dead_) Saulot? Malkav thought that he had read the meaning of Saulot's dreams once and he remembered the feeling of Saulot's healing hands caressing his fore-head, making his curse less vicious.

He felt some resemblance of fondness for these memories, even if he was not sure anymore _when_ and _why _these things happened, if they even happened at all and were not just mere delusions. But he desperately craved to understand and he was sure that, if he asked, Saulot would know the answer_. _Saulot always did.

Something stirred within Malkav and his thousands of bodies shook in unison. Now he finally understood for whom he should be searching. Malkav wants to see him again; maybe he was hoping Saulot would relief his troubled mind again.  
Maybe he wanted to subsume Saulot like Tremere had done it; to take his powers and to keep Saulot close to him forever. He would be like a god, then. No. He would be a god then.

Out of these two options, the latter was more likely to become Malkav's utmost desire, because he was selfish and greedy, and this way, he would never wither, never die, never be alone again.

And yet, he knew it was hopeless; all he could see clearly in his visions was that this particular reunion was not destined to end well for him.

Nevertheless, a thousand bodies turned to whisper in unison:

_Saulot, o Saulot, where art thou, brother?_


End file.
